A potential proposal of a carbon tax and all the damage that would accompany such misguided policies has been making headlines in Washington of late. Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have introduced legislation that would implement this damaging tax.

The report, titled, Economic Outcomes of a U.S. Carbon Tax, found that levying such a tax would result in higher prices for natural gas, electricity, gasoline and other energy commodities. Manufacturing output in energy-intensive sectors could drop by as much as 15 percent and 7.7 percent in non-energy intensive sectors.

The study examines two carbon tax scenarios: one levied at $20 per ton increasing at 4 percent, and the other designed to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 80 percent. In both cases, any revenue raised by the carbon tax would be far outweighed by the negative impact to the overall economy. A carbon tax would lead to lower real wage rates because companies would have higher costs and lower labor productivity. Over time, workers’ incomes could decline relative to baseline levels by as much as 8.5 percent. The increased costs of coal, natural gas and petroleum products due to a carbon tax would ripple through the economy and result in higher production costs and less spending on non-energy goods.

Can you afford to pay more for electricity, gasoline and food? That will be the result.

“The notion that some policymakers have in Washington that an economy-wide tax of this nature is a good idea is flatly wrong,” said Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the association. “Our nation’s economy and family budgets can’t take it. As consumers of one-third of our nation’s energy supply, manufacturers and our employees will struggle with higher energy prices. A carbon tax will severely harm our ability to compete with other nations.”
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“I just think that it’s national suicide,” said Greg Knox, CEO of Franklin-based Knox Machinery. “In talking to my customers, we’re just appalled by the fact the government would choose to consider some of this legislation in light of how many problems we have now in our economy.”

I think that reelecting President Obama and the Democrats in the Senate was an act of national suicide. This carbon tax would just speed things along. They’re literally trying to send us back to the Dark Ages.

Isn’t it about time we face up to the anthropogenic induced climate change which we have been experiencing, and which will continue to get worse quickly? This is not about politics, it is about science, and the eventual survival of or planet – that’s your suicide.

If carbon cap and trade is not the best solution, then what is? Mere objection is not a solution!

Transitioning into solar and wind while reducing the use of hydrocarbons seems right to me.

Wagon, I’ll try to refrain from name-calling, although you are making that difficult.

Solar and wind are fine niche products, but they simply don’t have the energy density to supply our needs – unless, perhaps, you wish to cover the landscape in solar cells and windmills. Would that be destroying the environment in order to save it?

How do you propose to power airplanes – with solar cells on the wings?

On top of that AGW is as thoroughly discredited as can be as a serious problem. Why go overboard to solve a non-existent problem? Why do I doubt that you have any scientific training at all?

Abound Solar in Colorado received a $470 million Department of Energy loan guarantee. They are bankrupt with defective panels suffering catastrophic failure. The EPA was going to let them skate until it was uncovered that 630 pounds of hazardous cadmium was produced monthly, along with sludge and contaminated water that needed to be transported off site. One current example.

Europe has suffered from the effects of approximately fifteen years of failed green energy wind and solar pollution, deterioration, subsidies, regulations, and taxes. We shouldn’t be as stupid and submissive as they were to this boondoggle.

Solar is best used on all rooftops and there is no need to be using ground space or covering environmentally sensitive ground. Businesses roofs and garages, residence roofs, covered parking in parking lots all lend themselves to solar. The carbon tax will be fought by the fossil fuel industry but if done, would be powerful at making projects like Keystone XL so expensive that we may also be able to stop them with the financial weight of paying the carbon tax.